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His mates watch, and giggle, when tracer bullets from Spongebob's machine gun rip through a Taleban fighter. A wounded colonel high on morphine mistakes a helicopter for a train. Young men and teenagers fight the toughest battles for fifty years. Then play like puppies in the sand of their isolated bases, cooling off in paddling pools. Almost no one out there understands why Britain is at war in Helmand. They would not have missed it. Sam Kiley joined 16 Air Assault Brigade and got unescorted and unrestricted access to the front line for a full six month tour of duty. .

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Review

'There is no one better to tell this story than Sam Kiley. One of the most intrepid foreign correspondents of our generation, he delves into the heart and soul of battle. Kiley has never been afraid to tell the truth - his long career in Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East is a testament to that. If you want to know why men wage war - read this' -- Janine di Giovanni

About the Author

Award-winning journalist Sam Kiley has covered wars and insurgencies in more than thirty countries over the last twenty years. Educated at Oxford University, he joined The Times in 1987, and since 1990 has worked as a foreign correspondent all over the world, most notably in Africa, where he won acclaim for his coverage of conflicts in the Congo, Somalia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. He has worked extensively in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taleban and has made more than twenty television films for Channel Four, Sky 1 and the BBC. He is a frequent contributor to the Mail on Sunday, the Evening Standard, the Observer, The Times and the Spectator. Married and a father of two, Sam Kiley lives in the countryside of East Anglia.

This book for me,was a candid insight to the war in Afghanistan. Troops hands practically tied behind their backs while being expected to fight a war!! truly shocking to think our wee Heroes are in such a stupid position regarding these "rules of engagement" although collateral damage should be kept a minimum, our troops should come first at all times. Sam Kiley did maybe too good a job for my liking, but then I have two Sons, serving soldiers, one who is mentioned in his book. A must read for all interested in this conflict, but not if your Son or Husband is there now.

The author (Sam Kiley) is a well respected journalist who has reported from many war zones - this book tells it how it is in Afghanistan. If the subject is your scene,then get the book, you will not be disappointed.

I've read a large number of Iraq/Afghanistan conflict books and many of the British writers have done an excellent job. However I have to say this book was a let down. Compared to others this was one of the most flowery and prosaic books I've ever read. The descriptions of sunsets or metaphors used in the books are entirely un-necessary and un-warranted. Not sure what got the writer going but there are whole paragraphs dedicated to flowery descriptions of sunsets, vista's and other things you'd probably associated with either travel guides or romance novels. Don't get me wrong ... this is still way better than the majority of US books...but compared to other British authors like SNIPER ONE or ATTACK STATE RED ... then you'll find this very dissapointing. It also alternated continually between perspectives and 1st and 3rd person accounts and styles of writing. You're never sure whether something is a subjective account of what the author *thinks* someone might have assumed when making a decision OR whether it's an objective actual and confirmed decision made.I really am very surprised as I'm unsure where SAM got his reputation but based on this I'd say it was in other books ... or maybe he's in broadcasting or another media form.

I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. I would have given it a 4 if not for the poor job of the final editor...

The book is written mostly in the present tense, turning the material gathered by interviewing soldiers, into their thoughts and words. This works for the most part, the notable exception being a very few instances where the author "breaks the fourth wall" by reverting to his own point of view as a war reporter. What is less forgivable is the many instances where the author looses his bearings when having to shift from the present to the past tense. There are entire paragraphs in this book that jump from present tense, to past perfect, to present to past tense from one sentence to another, without any internal chronological consistency.

Starting sentences with a numeral is another minor quirk, but is something that that I got used to after a while and is probably harder to avoid in this genre than in others.

As a Star Trek fan I was also slightly disappointed that Kiley illogically mixed up references to Star Trek and Star Wars, in his attempt at explaining the nickname of Captain Josh Jones. The nickname "Jar Jar" (p.162) does indeed come from Star Wars, but the fictional language of Klingon is from the entirely different sci-fi series Star Trek. The joking references to the captain "learning to speak Klingon" (from Star Trek) is incorrectly used to provide broader context for his Jar Jar nickname (from Star Wars). This is a minor point, but will jar (excuse the pun) with dedicated fans of these two entirely separate film franchises. This can easily be rectified in future editions, so I hope the publisher is reading this.

The book succeeds brilliantly in highlighting the bravery and profesionalism of our soldiers, the folly of our politicians, the complex nature of joint operations with our allies, as well as the inexcusable negligence of those at the top who send our troops into battle with unreliable equipment (such as the Bowman radio system). Worth reading.